The invention relates to stacking supports for roll stock, and more particularly to nestable stacking supports for roll stock.
xe2x80x9cRoll stock,xe2x80x9d is a term that is commonly used to describe cylindrical rolls or tubular rolls of a selected width of thin materials. Such items include paper products, plastic film products, thin gauge metals, roofing sheets, and various other thin materials. Many cylindrical or tubular shaped rolls are packed on pallets for shipping and storage. Such packing is often provided in tiers of rolls, and commonly, the rolls are horizontally oriented above the pallets. Consequently, in order to stabilize and support the cylindrical or tubular rolls, stacking supports have typically been employed.
Various materials and structures have been suggested, attempted, or actually used for receiving stacked rolls of materials. Some disclosures have suggested the use of a support and spacing member for roll stock formed from expanded polystyrene foam. However, certain characteristics of polystyrene foam make it less than ideal for use in roll stock supports. This is because expanded polystyrene is rather rigid, relatively brittle, and thus has a minimum of structural flexibility. Additionally, polystyrene foam rolls supports do not typically compactly nest together and thus storage of roll supports manufactured of polystyrene or similar plastic materials usually takes up considerable space.
One alternative to polystyrene foam roll supports has been the development and use of roll supports made from papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9. Unfortunately, in many circumstances, papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9 is inadequate for roll stock supports. For example, the strength of papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9 roll stock supports rapidly degrades which they get wet. Consequently, papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9 roll sock supports must be protected from the weather, and even cannot be used in many humid environments. Such weather protection is especially difficult during transport, and requires that such supports be shipped within a fully enclosed container or trailer. Further, even though roll supports manufactured from papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9 have improved stackability over foam type roll supports, the papier-mxc3xa2chxc3xa9 roll stackers must be of substantial thickness to support the weight of many materials.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there still remains a need for an improved roll stacker design which can be manufactured utilizing a material that would reduce the storage space requirements of roll supports, so as to free up warehouse space. And, there remains a need for a strong, weather-proof, preferably recyclable material which can be utilized in the production of compactly stackable roll supports.